Leader of the Opposition, Godwin Friday, has called on the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines to make “the right choice” and fire the Unity Labour Party (ULP) government when they go to the polls on Nov. 5.
The Ralph Gonsalves-led administration received a hot tongue-lashing and a failing grade during a rally hosted by the New Democratic Party (NDP) in Sion Hill on Friday night.
“… they have failed in providing economic opportunities. They have failed in providing proper health care for our people. They have outlived their usefulness.
We are falling behind because [Gonsalves] wants to run all four legs of the relay. When you do that, we lose the race and we fall behind all our neighbouring countries in the region and our economic performance is lower than all the other OECS countries in the region.”
Friday charged the red-party with poor management of the country’s economy and further blamed the ULP for the rising unemployment rate and the low economic growth.
“Our country has gotten poorer under the ULP … More people are unemployed now in this country under this ULP government after almost 20 years. We are on the bottom, so when you hear [Gonsalves] say how they manage the [COVID-19] crisis so good; that the economics of St. Lucia and them fall more than the economies of St. Vincent, but when you are on rock bottom, where you have to fall?” the opposition leader said.
Friday said out of the countries of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), SVG recorded the lowest rate of economic growth for 2019 — 0.4%.
Friday promised party supporters that when the NDP takes office, cupboards will be overflowing and jobs will be available for all Vincentians, especially the youth.
“When we take office, you will be able to buy more groceries because we are going to reduce the VAT from 16 to 13%. Immediately, your life improves.
“When the young people ask, ‘Where is a place for me?’ and there is none under this government, we have to change that. That is our obsession in this political party. Every day we are looking for opportunities to create jobs and economic opportunities for the people of this country, to allow our businesses to thrive, to make sure they have the expertise and the capital and the loans available for the famers and fisherfolk to do well.”
Friday said the upcoming general elections is the most important in the last 25 years and it is a choice that Vincentians “have to get right”.
“We have a clear choice between the broken promises you have heard from the ULP. You have a choice between the nepotism, the selfishness, the greed, the incompetence of a government that promises so much and delivers so little. You have a choice between the government that has run out of steam, that they have become expired goods on a shelf where they can’t deliver any more hope or nutrition for the people of this country,” Friday told party supporters.
“This is the most important election that we are going to have in this country for a long time because… as voters, you will not only decide what will happen to you for the next five years but what will happen to your children and your grandchildren for the next 10, 15 years going forward.”
Am I hearing right in this speech Friday was putting down the labor party of their management of St Vincent. Where was he all those years he spent in Canada. What do he know about the does and donts of St Vincent. St Vincent has come a long way. There maybe hard times to find a job, just like in foreign countries. But it has come a long way with the management of Ralph and his team. Get a life Friday and stay in tequila.
Its time indeed for Ralph Gonsalves and im family fo hit de road carze wah, we done fed up ah dem! Dem bring we nough suffering ah ready dread! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rEsVp5tiDQ
Dem people day naah means we no good dread. Jus selfish desires fo rule over we, an Wah, dem warr teck we down waay dem say is ah de Cuban paradise daay warr fo we, but see it daay, it ah place waay time forget lang time dread? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1NBDMl4N7Y
It is easy to create jobs, but more difficult to create jobs in the Private Sector. We do not want more government jobs because that means those that are working anywhere in SVG have to pay higher taxes to pay these government salaries. I have often noticed that in SVG there are FIVE PEOPLE EMPLOYED IN JOBS THAT CAN EASILY BE DONE BY ONE PERSON!
The Private Sector can create jobs AFTER the government creates a POLICY (mostly financial) environment where the Private Sector can EFFICIENTLY make a profit. My problem with the ULP is that they have been doing the opposite:
Taxes for business in SVG are WAY TOO HIGH! Customs is an EXPENSIVE MESS OF TOTAL INEFFICIENCY. Too much time and too much money is wasted clearing things!
Also:
IT IS WAY TOO EXPENSIVE TO HIRE SOMEONE!!!! NOT ONLY DO YOU HAVE TO PAY SALARY, NIS, (eventually) SEVERANCE PAY. SICK AND VACATION LEAVE, ETC…If workers come late and leave early, steal things, and are slow and lazy,?…?… THIS IS WHY SMALL BUSINESSES IN SVG FAIL….costs are too high and profits are too low. All these high costs result in workers mostly not getting paid what is owed to them when the business fails.
Instead of having fair financial importation policy we have the TOTALLY UNFAIR concessionary system where only the CHOSEN are allowed to pay fair duties. Otherwise THE CUSTOMS DUTIES ARE SO HIGH THAT ANY ENTITY THAT DOES NOT GET A CONCESSION IS GUARANTEED TO FAIL!
As I have said, why don’t we instead create an environment where prosperity is inevitable and poverty is impossible!
At present laws and conditions in SVG insure that BUSINESS DOES NOT HAPPEN, and everyone is unhappy. This also contributes to despair violence and crime. Let’s not even start to mention the poor training and corruption in the Police Force! Those good officers deserve better.